This week I overheard two individuals, both with jobs in the same field, discussing their chosen profession. Both agreed that they wanted to move up into positions of more responsibility. One said (paraphrasing), 'because I have faced hardships few others have experienced, I want to fulfill my dream of becoming a role model that anyone can confide in. I want to fight for individual's rights, teach others self-worth and acceptance, and I want to erase unfairness and eliminate injustice.' The other one said (still paraphrasing), 'I want to be a director because I am tired of being on the front lines.'
One is fresh and shiny - the other is tired and tarnished.
One is idealistic and trusting - the other is jaded and cynical.
One is going to save the world - the other is going to let her.
One is 21 years old - the other is 51 years old.
I have been working hard to glean meaning from this encounter - to gain understanding beyond what is obvious in the contrast above...
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Though it does feel superficial and obvious, perhaps it really is simply an interpretation of reality. If individual reality is a passage beginning in cramped, dark bewilderment perhaps 'the one' has simply come upon a cavernous prescience of sunshine and possibility, and 'the other one' is feeling constricted by the narrowing proximity of walls. Perhaps this recognition of differing realities can serve as an incitement to seek a common ground for collaboration. And perhaps from there a synergistic bond will be formed that can move us forward more efficiently.
But as I consider this, I ask if perhaps differing realities may be necessary for balance and continuing progress. There is a need for innocent, active hope, and there is a need for skeptical, functional restraint; a fusion of the two may be counterproductive, but the two working in conjunction may be effective. If we spend our energy pulling the one into a reality that may discourage and dampen, and dragging the other one back into the sunshine of ignorance, we are not spending energy on progress. I believe a common ground to be advantageous on many levels, but one must willfully choose to seek it, and then act of their own volition to occupy it. To do otherwise (I believe) may go against the natural inclinations of one's humanity, which will in turn hinder progress.
So the challenge lies in learning and understanding the advantages of common ground and shared vision. There are (at this moment) 7,361,261,449 differing realities on this planet; yet we all do share at least one common ground - that being this planet. That acknowledgement is a start...
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So to this point in my thought, I have reminded myself to actively appreciate a diversity of individual realities by respectfully acknowledging their necessary contributions and by seeking common ground. All good; but have I gained any new, higher, and/or deeper levels of understanding?...
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...No.
Perhaps this week I simply needed a reminder...
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...Or, upon re-examination, and after a brief detour down a dark dead end, filled with monsters, maybe yes...
...The phrase 'sunshine of ignorance' was not carelessly or derogatorily tossed into the fray above. There is an energy and light to be found in ignorance and perhaps it is here where I can transcend. One person cannot save the world, and most attempts in this regard are reasonably looked upon as futile and naive. But there is a strength in shared ignorance. Speaking for myself, I suffer no shortage of ignorance. Looking around, I believe this to be a widespread reality. So why do we choose to fragment that strength, when instead we could choose to combine forces on a common ground of ignorance? If it is because we are afraid to acknowledge that ignorance, this fear (as it manifests into certainty) continues to add new layers of hardened ignorance ultimately creating an impenetrable shield of delusional comfort.
To some extent these new thoughts are also a reminder. But I believe (at least for me) I have added some new perspectives and levels to the concept of ignorance. These new complexities range from ignorant / divisive ignorance at one end of the spectrum to the shared strength of a globally productive ignorance at the other end, with many gradations between. Perhaps we should all voluntarily regress to a shared gradation of productive ignorance at the upper end of this spectrum.
Fresh and Shiny is Good.